Humphrey Jennings (1907-1950)
Sketch for Portrait of Edward Lear
signed with initials, inscribed and dated 'H.J. 1948 Sketch forportrait of/Edward Lear' (on the canvas overlap) and with studiostamp (on the canvas overlap)
oil on canvas
14 x 12 in. (35.5 x 30.5 cm.)
Exhibited
London, Mayor Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings and Works onPaper - Humphrey Jennings, November-December 1993.
Lot Notes
Jennings' studies for Edward Lear are remarkable in the way theyshow how vision, and creation, develop from figurativeness to akind of "lyrical abstraction", from the contours of a figure to therevelation of its interior forces. They, again, demonstrateJennings's process of de-realization of the real towards a kind ofessence of the object under study. We are very grateful to Michel Remy for his assistance incataloguing the present lot as well as lots 640 and 644. Michel Remy is the leading authority on British Surrealism. He isthe author of Surrealism in Britain, published by Lund andHumphries, and Professor of English Literature and Art History atthe University of Nice.